The market earlier in the session had found some support after a weekly survey of economists conducted by Brazil's central bank showed that, on average, they expect further expansion in the Brazilian economy. Economists now forecast growth this year of 6.6%, higher than last week's estimate of 6.47%.

The euro
EURUSD, -0.81%
pared its loss against the U.S. dollar after a report that factory orders in Germany rose unexpectedly in April. The euro's recent decline makes European products less costly in global markets.

The euro was also able to trim losses after officials in Hungary backtracked from comments made late last week about a possible default.

Fears about possible default in Hungary, coupled with weak U.S. data about hiring in the private sector, rocked equity and currency markets on Friday, sending the euro below the $1.20 level for the first time in more than four years.

Hungary's fiscal conditions are still of concern, said Win Thin, senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman, in a clients' note.

An "economic plan is due for release Tuesday, but we believe that announcing some sort of mish-mash of tax cuts and tax hikes along with murky pension fund rule changes isn't going to sit well with markets," he wrote.

In Mexico City, a pullback in finance, retail and home building stocks weighed on the IPC index, with shares of Grupo Financiero Banorte (GFNORTEO) down 4.8% to lead overall decliners. Home builder Homex
HXM
dropped 2.4%. Wal-Mart de Mexico
WMMVY, +0.14%
fell 0.2% and Cemex
CX, +0.68%
turned lower to end down 0.3%.

In Sao Paulo, shares of heavyweight Petrobras
PBR, +1.77%
bucked the losing trend as they rose 0.9%, with investors looking forward to the state-run oil giant's planned launch of a $25 billion share sale. A vote by lawmakers for approval of the capitalization plan, which includes granting Petrobras rights to explore and develop 5 billion barrels of oil in offshore Brazil, is slated to be held this week.

Petrobras shares held to higher ground on Monday despite a reverse in July crude-oil prices, which finished 0.1% lower at $71.44 a barrel.

Chile's IPSA index fell 3 points to 3,860.66. The country's currency slid against the dollar, hurt by risk-averse investors and a drop in copper prices on Monday to an eight-month low. Copper fell 1.9% to $2.7660 a pound on Comex. The currency fell to 545.61 pesos per greenback from 541.20 on Friday.

Copper prices are closely tracked in Chile as the country is the world's largest copper producer. Analysts said copper prices were under pressure because of worries that softening the global economy will reduce demand for the industrial metal. Read Metals Stocks.

But Chile did post upbeat news from the economic front Monday. The central bank said Chile's Imacec index, which tracks 90% of gross domestic product components, rose 4.6% in April from the year-ago period. Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected an increase of 2%.

The data indicate that the economy is bouncing back the massive earthquake that struck the country on Feb. 27, leaving hundreds dead and roughly $30 billion in damages.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. Intraday data
delayed per exchange requirements. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM) from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real time last sale data provided by NASDAQ. More
information on NASDAQ traded symbols and their current financial status. Intraday
data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM)
from Dow Jones & Company, Inc. SEHK intraday data is provided by SIX Financial Information and is
at least 60-minutes delayed. All quotes are in local exchange time.